She's managed to perfect her sitting position on the familiar bench, one leg crossed over the other, her back straight and patience unshakable. It used to bother her, the waiting that is, but as time passed by she grew to realise that her frustrations were unwarranted. She cannot speed up time or change things, all she can do is sit on that bench, looking her best, and wait.
She could be back at her boutique, finding work to do but business had been rather slow as of late. So many ponies had left...
Her eyes lower for a moment, a gentle sigh escaping her before she smiles again. She's become such a patient mare. Her darling would be proud of her.
It hadn't been a well known fact about Rarity that she had been impatient, she'd often disguised it through constant creativity but she had been and it had often pained her to stand around and do nothing, even if it meant not getting her hooves dirty.
She's done a little more of that in the past months as well. She's often walked places, imagining the comfort of her dearest companion by her side, humming a tune and smiling at her widely and in such a way as to warm her like the sun's rays.
Was there a better feeling?
She opens her eyes, having only just noticed that she'd had them closed, so lost in memories she was for a moment. She looks up to the clouds above, shaking her head gently at the sight that greets her. The sky is blanketed in thick and heavy grey, the signs of an approaching storm are clear. Scattered showers was meant on the agenda today but the weather ponies couldn't quite do as good a job as one certain cyan mare could. They couldn't do the job in ten seconds flat. And they were so short staffed nowadays.
Rarity might even consider herself rather lucky that Ponyville isn't in the same state as the Everfree with all that's going on.
But still. She does miss the streak of a rainbow across the sky... Perhaps not quite as much as her darling but powerfully all the same and she can't help but feel a pang at the lack of colour amongst the expanse of sky that was her friend's canvas. Rarity smiles, a tinge of sadness escaping.
She might not be able to wait as long as usual today if a storm's brewing. It wouldn't do good to be sick if-... when her companions return.
She rises from her seat and straightens the collar on her coat before she takes her umbrella in her telekinetic grip and makes her way steadily back towards her home...
The sun is shining today. She can't help but marvel at the willpower of the weather ponies, even as their numbers continue to lessen. More and more are sent away towards the unknown each week yet they continue to clear the skies. She sees movement above and her eyes widen as they focus upon a familiar mare.
“Oh, Fluttershy... You may not be a weather pony but you'll try anyway,” She murmurs fondly. Her friend looks determined, far more resilient. It is of no doubt that being in close contact with those sent to collapse exhaustion can impact a mare. Rarity doesn't doubt that Fluttershy is replacing somepony, allowing them the rest they desperately deserve. She wishes she could help but... her magic isn't quite what it used to be.
She watches her friend for a while, deciding that it's likely Cloudkicker that she's working in the stead of. The poor mare had looked so drawn yesterday...
“Rarity!”
She is pulled out her thoughts by a chipper voice and a smile forms as she looks to her pink coated friend.
“Pinkie Pie, it's been too long, my dear!” She greets warmly.
“Well, we've all been super duper busy!” Pinkie replies as she skips over daintily and takes a seat beside Rarity on her most favourite of benches. It allows her to catch the morning rays is she comes early and the vast tree canopy above provides shelter from the midday sun which tends to be somewhat uncomfortable on odd days when the Princess is distracted. Nothing drastic, of course, she wouldn't risk her ponies health but it doesn't quite line up like it used to.
“That we have, Pinkie. I heard you've been working with Twilight on something?” Rarity says and Pinkie beams at her.
“It's a special something for Luna. The Princess thinks it could help fix everything and then ponies can come home again,” She replies.
“That sounds wonderful, darling. May I ask what this 'special something for Luna' is?” Rarity quips, her curiosity peaked and Pinkie giggles.
“I don't think I could explain it properly and if I tried, Twilight might tell me off for mixing up things like quantum mechanics and the regular kind that the stallion around the corner does with broken carts,” She explains and Rarity laughs lightly.
They are interrupted by a piercing whistle and they both look towards the source, ears perking for a moment. The train unloads it's passengers, bellowing out steam. Only a small few step out of the carriages.
Pinkie Pie sighs and Rarity looks back to her as the train chugs away steadily down the track.
“Something wrong, dear?” Rarity asks caringly. She knows something is already, Pinkie Pie doesn't sigh for no good reason and she also has a rather good indication as to what is bothering her friend. The look on her face is quite startlingly familiar. She sees it every morning in her mirror after she wakes up alone.
“I miss them...” Pinkie murmurs and her ears droop. Her mane isn't limp around her shoulders but it is unpleasantly close. Rarity reaches out a hoof and rests it over Pinkie's gently.
“They'll be back, Pinkie Pie.”
“But when?” Pinkie questions and Rarity smiles at her slightly.
“Soon... They won't be gone forever, darling,” She soothes and Pinkie smiles again, perking.
“I know. It's just sometimes, I think about them and I get this achy feeling in my chest like there's something missing and it gets a little hard to breath and my throat gets all tight...” She says and Rarity smiles gently and knowingly.
“I'm sure that Rainbow Dash misses you dearly too, Pinkie.”
Pinkie pouts.
“I try not to pick favourites, even if I love Dashie in a different way, because I don't want it to seem like I miss some of my friends more than others when they're gone,” She says and Rarity pats her hoof softly before glancing around and leaning close.
“I must admit, I'm a little prone to picking favourites too,” She whispers in a conspirators tone and Pinkie laughs heartily then wraps Rarity in a brief but tight hug.
“Thanks, Rarity! I feel a lot better now!” She chirps.
“I'm very glad,” The alabaster unicorn replies sincerely.
“I'd better get back to Twilight now. She mentioned something about condensing and liquefying Pinkie sense and she had that ear twitch so I probably shouldn't keep her waiting long,” Pinkie says quite seriously, looking off towards the Book and Branches library.
“Quite right too. Twilight is a dear but she does get rather...”
“Crazy?”
“I was going to say focussed,” Rarity protests and Pinkie giggles as she hops back to her hooves, her entire form bubbling with energy.
“Surrrreeee you were.”
“Don't go breaking the laws of Physics now, Pinkie. She's likely rather delicate,” Rarity advises with a smile.
“Okie dokie, Rarity! I'll see you later!” Pinkie says cheerfully and she bounces off down the street. Rarity watches her skid to a halt and pause a moment before bright blue eyes look back to her. “I bet she misses you too!” She calls and only for a moment is Rarity puzzled before it clicks and her smile widens as her friend vanishes.
She almost hopes that she isn't missed too much. The last thing she wants is for her darling to be distracted.
She waits a while longer, lost in thought, then she makes her way down the street towards her boutique, after all, those influx of orders she got this morning aren't going to fill themselves...
She is considerably more tired than she is used to feeling this early in the morning but then again, her talent isn't metalwork, no matter what kind of garments she's making and metalwork is far more labour intensive than she's used to. It's made especially difficult by the problems with her magic, ones that Twilight, despite her best efforts, can't fix.
She has made sure she looks as well as she can though before she sets off for her most regular of destinations. The air is rather bitterly cold now. Autumn has come and gone and winter is intent upon leaving it's mark.
She has wrapped up securely in a scarf, hat, boots and her warmest faux-fur lined coat.
She can still feel the chill.
She arrives at her bench then dusts it clear of the snow before sitting down. The oak tree behind her shields her from the worst of the wind and she's almost warm. That tree is swiftly becoming rather special to her. It's like silent company, a stranger stood nearby to occupy the emptiness yet not being at all invasive.
Rarity takes a deep breath of the crisp air, her eyes closing as her breath condenses on her exhale. It's refreshing and cleansing. Her darling does so love winter.
Rarity sits and basks in the calm and silence and she waits.
She waits like she has done for precisely a year now.
She'll keeping waiting as long as she must. After all, her darling asked her to...
The day is beautiful. The air is cool but not quite holding the same bite as the winter gales of previous weeks. It's finally warming again. The sun is shining brightly and today it is exactly where it belongs in the sky, not too close and not too far. The Pegasi have done a lovely job clearing the clouds as well. The poor weather ponies had been suffering as of late, having to battle through the cold to keep control of the unruly weather.
Rarity rather hopes that it wasn't and isn't so cold as that where her dearest is. She hopes that it's slightly cool with a gentle breeze, the perfect kind of weather for her.
“Rarity...”
She opens her eyes slowly, looking over to the source of the voice and she cannot for the life of herself make head nor tails of Twilight's expression.
“I think- I think I've done it,” The alicorn says, her voice full of wonder and her eyes tired. Rarity's blinks at her, confused. “I think I've found a solution...” Twilight adds then she pauses, hesitating in the midst of her bewilderment. “I think I can stop the war.”
Rarity's umbrella clatters to the ground and a violet hoof rests on her shoulder, steadying her as she gasps, her heart trembling with anxiety and reluctant hope. She takes a deep breath to calm herself then releases it slowly.
“Darling... That sounds absolutely wonderful... but how?” She says, asking because she must and Twilight smiles at her, weary but enthusiastic.
“Well, it's kind of simple really.”
And Rarity knows from those words that it most definitely is not simple but she doesn't care in the slightest because Twilight wouldn't say this if she wasn't certain. She wouldn't raise hopes only to crush them again if she hadn't checked a thousand times over that whatever plan she's created will work.
That is why Rarity can sit and listen to Twilight talk without fidgeting with impatience. It's real, it's going to be over and she wait a little longer...
Luna stands in the center of the library, her expression consisting of stony faced determination despite all that she has been through and she has been through much. Twilight takes plate after plate of carefully and painstaking crafted iridium coated titanium and fits it all together over Luna's lithe form until next to none of her is showing other than her head, her ethereal mane and tail and her hooves. The last is remedied a moment later as she steps onto a pair of gleaming horseshoes.
Twilight's horn glows briefly, her magic encasing the hoofwear momentarily then the magic dies down and Luna knocks one hoof against the floor a few times to test the spell. It's a fairly simple one that should ensure that the shoes remain on and continue to add to Luna's rather impressive punch.
It took Rarity an awful lot of time and magic to get it right; many hours were spent trawling over blueprints and through blacksmith parchments in the hopes of finding a solution. The answer had been rather unsatisfying in that the basic of it seemed to be that you had to hit it... very, very hard and make it very, very hot. The chosen metals certainly weren't the easiest to work with and armour was not something she'd ever have been expected to make come a year or so ago. But alas, she has done, and this set, though her finest, is most definitely not her first and likely not her last.
“I commend thee, Rarity. You have done splendidly,” Luna says with sincerity.
“Thank you, Luna,” Rarity replies with a small and tired smile.
“And to you as well, Twilight Sparkle. These spells are some of the most stable we have felt since our return.”
“It was an honour,” Twilight replies as she adjusts a plate slightly to better cover Luna's throat. Twilight has worked endlessly to ensure maximum strength in those spells and Rarity can only hope that she herself done a good enough job of helping to keep Luna safe. The things she's seen are enough to wear upon her without physical injury being a primary concern.
Rarity hopes that the use of the iridium is worth the work, it should, if nothing else, withstand the temperatures which typically melt most other metals and everypony is well aware of how important that is...
“Is Spike here?” Luna questions and Twilight glances upstairs, concern rising in her eyes.
“He's sleeping. He's been working late with me in testing the armour's resistance to dragonfire,” She explains, her voice lowering a tad and Luna nods understandingly. Rarity has to resist the compulsion to go up the stairs and check on her favourite dragon.
He shouldn't have been forced into this mess at such an age...
But she has work to do and waking Spike just to ease her worries won't help him at all.
“I have something for you, Luna. I hope you don't mind,” She says instead, partially to distract herself and partially because she needed to mention it soon anyway. She levitates her saddlebags into her hooves, dismissing the headache and pain in her horn that the motion creates. She searches briefly then removes a necklace from within. It holds a vial which contains a collection of colourful powders, all of which remind Rarity briefly of their prismatic maned friend. She pushes the thought back in favour of offering it to Luna. The co-ruler of Equestria takes it carefully in her hooves and peers into the vial.
“I took the liberty of putting together something of a good luck charm for you, Luna. Those crystals are deemed to help keep the wearer safe by the word of a few ancient tomes I acquired..." Rarity explains and seeing Luna's raised brow, she smiles gently and glances over to Twilight. "I was informed from a reliable source that you're rather wary of bad luck,” She explains and Luna returns it, if only slightly and looks over to Twilight momentarily.
“We are...” She confirms with a nod before she ties the thread around her neck securely with a thin stream of magic.
“It also doubles as something of a backup plan. If things get... uncomfortable, then all you need to do is pull the cork and let it drop to the ground... Then leave the vicinity quite quickly, it tends to be rather volatile,” Rarity says. 'Rather volatile' is, in all honesty, somewhat of an understatement. It tends to-... well, for lack of a better term, explode... Quite a lot.
“You have my thanks again, Rarity.”
The alabaster mare bows to her daintily with another smile.
“Anything for a friend.”
Luna's smile becomes a little more alive and the stars in her mane sparkle in her eyes, a fresh gleam of vigour within them as she squares her shoulders then tucks the vial safely beneath her breastplate.
“So... what was this I heard about... 'liquid Pinkie Sense', was it?” She prompts and Twilight grins, her tired eyes suddenly far more awake and brimming with building enthusiasm.
“It's our secret weapon, Luna,” She says. “It's how we're going to win.”
There was a problem though, naturally. It had arisen a day or so previous to Luna's arrival at the library when Twilight had collected Rarity from her bench. The issue was that when it came to using the LPS, aka. Liquid Pinkie Sense, on ponies, the options for testing were few and far between. Rarity herself wasn't able, though she offered, because she was busy crafting the armour desperately needed by Equestria's soldiers and to fall ill to unforeseen problems could leave Equestria significantly less durable.
Pinkie could not be tested for obvious reasons, Twilight stating quite simply that if there were any affects then the chances are that they wouldn't be particularly helpful. The young alicorn also couldn't act as a test subject because it would be far too difficult for her to do a thorough analysis of herself, and if anything went wrong, she'd be putting the entire project on the line... and possibly the country.
Princes Luna could not as she was an entire line of defence alone and to risk that would be absurd, even if the chances of problems were slim. Perhaps even microscopic. Twilight had the figures and she was confident but it had to be tested on a pony. She was careful. She'd done every other test available to her but not testing it on a pony before distributing it to troops could prove to be the downfall to the Equestrian military and this Liquid Pinkie Sense was meant to be the key to securing victory, not the cause of their demise.
Rarity and Pinkie could, after all, only understand the basics of the complex science and Rarity, despite being a unicorn, wasn't an academic in the field of magic and so knew painfully little beyond gem crafting and advanced telekinesis. Neither would be capable of continuing the research if Twilight were to fall ill from the effects.
And so it was down to Fluttershy. They could think of nopony else who wasn't already fighting in the war, or who was nearly as reliable as the kind-hearted Pegasus.
Which, was made exceedingly more difficult by the fact that she'd become something of a shut in for the past several weeks... or was it months? Rarity couldn't really remember. She was just so busy and the time flew by and-... Yes, it was months. She remembers the last time that she saw Fluttershy being two and a half months previous when she'd... broken down over the letter that her darling Applejack had written to her; the scrawl containing a hurried promise, stained with tears long before it entered Rarity's hooves. The page still left a pang and a fear in her heart when she thought of it.
But that was the last time she'd seen her friend. When she'd needed somepony to listen to her and she'd come to Fluttershy who had, of course, brought her inside, offered her tea then let her cry onto her shoulder for several tiring hours without so much as a murmur of complaint.
Rarity cannot suppress the wave of guilt that washes over her at the thought of having allowed herself to be distracted to the point of forgetting one of her dearest friends.
She must be well though. She has letters delivered once a week to everyone despite her reclusive nature. Which, Rarity supposes, means she hadn't forgotten so much as thought Fluttershy was content enough not to need worrying too much about... which was ridiculous, of course, because Rainbow Dash was Fluttershy's childhood friend and Applejack was perhaps the only one out of the group who understood how much the ground meant to the timid Pegasus.
“... Rarity, you fool.”
She is heading towards the familiar cottage now with a fresh weight on her shoulders and an ache in her chest. Her steps are significantly quicker than usual. There is a rising anxiety and an unpleasant knot settled in her stomach that leaves her skittish.
She is so intently focussed on the cottage in the distance that it takes her keen eye far longer than it should have to notice that the usually neat and lovingly preened and cared for plant life is, for lack of a better term, wild. Rarity pauses, her eyes scanning the overgrown grass and thriving weeds. Fluttershy openly encouraged nature to live with her but she didn't let it creep too close. She tamed it carefully like she did animals and in tern, it was beautiful for her.
This wasn't beauty... It was a mess.
Rarity frowns deeply then walks onwards at a much slower pace.
The next thing she notices is the aching void of silence where chirping birds and squeaking rodents ought to be residing. She stops again, ears pricked attentively, swivelling slightly in the hopes of catching something... Anything.
“Nothing...” She whispers. Her heart flutters with rising panic. “Nothing,” She repeats in bafflement and her eyes widen. “Where are all the animals?” She questions but of course there is nopony around to give her the answer she desperately wants. She wants somepony to tell her that they're at a tea party or have gone for a walk with Fluttershy.
Yes... Every. Single. One of them.
Rarity breaks into a gallop. Her hooves pounding against the dry earth as she scrambles towards her friends house, fear powering her on and leaving her oblivious to the mud staining her otherwise flawless alabaster hooves.
“Please tell me that she's okay. Please...” She murmurs and she runs up to the small, quaint cottage. She skids to a halt, throwing up dust and her eyes dart across it's front as she breathes hard. Her heart stops dead in her chest... The curtains are shut and there is almost no sound here; just the barest rustle of leaves from a soft breeze. The curtains are shut.
Rarity swallows. Her mouth suddenly feels very dry.
Fluttershy wakes at six in the morning, bright and early to tend to the early riser and the first thing she does is open her curtains...
They are shut.
“Maybe she just isn't awake. Maybe she's... sleeping in...” Rarity says and there is nopony there to tell her how weak those words sound but she doesn't need them to be. Her own ears, and her own heart, tell her that she's speaking what she doesn't believe. She steps up to the door and then catches sight of the small scrap of worn paper there.
She practically tears the door off in her haste to grab the note from the nail pinning it there. She stares down at the words, her mind struggling to process them.
She reads it again...
And again...
And again...
Then she looks lifts her gaze and stares ahead at nothing.
“She's gone...” She murmurs and the note drifts out the grasp of her magic and settles gently on the ground as she hesitantly enters the building with the words glaring up at the sky, the softness and the elegance in the script doing little to ease the sting of the words.
I'm very sorry, Rarity...
There's just something that I have to do.
Keep safe,
Fluttershy.
Rarity gazes around at room, so warm and inviting once upon a time, and now coated in a thick layer of dust. Her next breath trembles and her hoof flies to her mouth as tears sting her eyes, the small vial of LPS in her saddlebags long forgotten.